


Plaintext

by etothey



Category: Lloyd Alexander - Westmark series
Genre: Gen, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2007
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-15
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 19:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1136261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etothey/pseuds/etothey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Many thanks to Edo no Hana for the handholding and beta.  I referred to Paul Garrett's <cite>Making, Breaking Codes: An Introduction to Cryptology</cite> (although it is overkill for the Vigenère cipher that is used here).</p>
    </blockquote>





	Plaintext

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vom Marlowe](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Vom+Marlowe).



> Many thanks to Edo no Hana for the handholding and beta. I referred to Paul Garrett's Making, Breaking Codes: An Introduction to Cryptology (although it is overkill for the Vigenère cipher that is used here).

 

 

Florian had asked Theo to resurrect Colonel Kestrel in service of the resistance. What Theo had not anticipated, when he agreed, was that he would also have to resurrect the printer's devil who had read political philosophy so avidly in Dorning.

Florian sat at the edge of the bed in the attic room. An hour ago, he had said, "Let's put your memory to the test while there's time, youngster." Then he gave Theo a slip of paper with a jumble of letters written clearly if shakily. Theo looked at the way Florian's hand trembled, but Florian shook off his offers to fetch soup from downstairs. "Decrypt this," Florian said, "and write me a response using the same key."

"That shouldn't be difficult," Theo said. He had listened attentively when Florian explained the cipher to him. "It's just arithmetic over and over again, with each letter changed into a number."

"Humor me," Florian said. "If it confuses you, best to know now, when we can go over it again."

So Theo sat down next to him and promptly discovered that memorizing the numbers was going to take time. _A_ was 1, obviously, and _Z_ was 26, but he kept having to stop and count in order to find the ones in the middle of the alphabet. It occurred to him that Mickle or Sparrow would be better at this.

In the midst of subtracting _M_ from _H_ (8 minus 13, or was it 8 minus 12?), Theo looked up and said, "Where did you learn this, anyhow?"

"The cipher?" Florian's expression was inscrutable. "We're not the first people in the history of Westmark who have secrets to keep." He would say no more.

All right, 8 minus 13 was impossible, so Theo was supposed to turn it around to 13 minus 8, then use the result to count backwards from 26. 26 to 25, 25 to 24, all the way to 21: _U_. Dutifully, Theo wrote _U_ on his sheet of paper, which was the back of one of Madam Bertha's grocery lists.

Not long afterward, Theo read the decrypted message: "'Westmark will survive.'"

"Indeed," Florian said. "It's more accurate to ask _whose_ Westmark will survive, but I wasn't going to burden you with a political discussion."

Theo's practice encrypting went more quickly, although he was aware of Florian's patient gaze all the while. He chose a single word: _Marianstat_.

Florian checked it over and nodded to himself. "Regrets, youngster?"

"The time for that is over, isn't it?" Theo asked, a little bitterly. "All right, I can remember how this works. But surely we can't use 'freedom'"--8-18-5-5-4-15-13, which he was never going to forget--"as the key every time? Cabbarus's spymasters might catch on."

"No," Florian said, "I'm afraid you'll have to do some more memorization. Have you read Nicolai's _Essays on Undying Principles_?"

Theo began reciting the first essay, stumbling over some of the phrases. Had Nicolai written "the essential fellowship of humanity," or "mankind's fellowship"? "Freedom's trappings" or "liberty's trappings"?

"Not too bad," Florian said when he ground to a halt, "but you need to do better. This will only work if the version in your memory matches the version in mine exactly."

Theo started to ask why they couldn't just consult the book, then realized that getting caught with a copy might give some keen-nosed Directorate spy the clue he or she needed to break the cipher. Theo said, "Teach me your version."

Phrase by phrase, Florian and Theo went over the opening paragraph, which they agreed upon as the encryption key. "Was the last word in that sentence 'silence'?" Theo asked.

"It is indeed," Florian said.

"You're a dangerous man," Theo said after they had finished. Florian's voice had strong, unmistakable cadences. "You could probably make a cargo manifest sound incendiary."

Florian laughed. "We've got that settled. Now, there are a number of safehouses whose locations you need to know." He retrieved the map from its place at the side of the bed and dragged it to the floor.

"Here," Theo said, alarmed by the pallor of Florian's skin, "let me help you with that." He touched Florian's forehead. "You're going to give yourself another fever."

"All the more reason to go over this now, while my mind is clear." Florian placed his hand over Theo's and moved it to a village on the road to Altus-Birkenfeld. "Here's the first one. The house is the fourth one on Miller's Street, across from the tailor's shop, and it has a red roof. If you need to get someone safely out of Marianstat, that's one place you can send them."

"Fourth house, Miller's Street, tailor's shop, red roof," Theo said.

Florian gave him several more addresses. At the end, he made Theo point them out again and give their descriptions. Theo, who had become good with maps while working with the Monkey, was able to recite them all. Florian nodded approvingly.

"You should rest or Torrens will have my head," Theo said. To his surprise, Florian didn't protest. Theo helped him back into the bed, then rolled up the map and replaced it. "We'll do this again after you've gotten some sleep." He gave Florian's hand a squeeze.

"One more thing before you go, youngster."

Theo waited.

"It may be the Kestrel's skills I need," Florian said, "but it's your will, you, Theo-- _you_ have to guide this rebellion. Anyone can become a butcher--no, let me finish. Anyone can become a butcher, but not everyone can keep sight of the ideals behind the blood."

"I understand," Theo said, which was true. Perhaps he had known it ever since he learned that Florian's view of Cabbarus matched his own. Nevertheless, a part of him was disappointed that Florian's regard wasn't for the Kestrel after all. As the Kestrel, Theo had learned to shed his scruples. He was glad that he had regained his sanity. He also missed the freedom that madness had afforded him.

"Sleep," Theo said again, reassuringly.

It wasn't until years later that he learned that Nicolai had never written "the love men bear each other even in silence" in his first essay or any other. Even in his time of exile, Theo remembered that phrase, read in Florian's passionate voice, a memory shared by no one else.

 


End file.
